


An Invitation

by Seaspray13



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: A Stitch in Time - Andrew Robinson, Character Study, Introspection, M/M, One Shot, Post-Canon, References to Beta Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27290350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seaspray13/pseuds/Seaspray13
Summary: Julian’s reaction to receiving “A Stitch in Time” after months of feeling like he had been left behind.
Relationships: Julian Bashir & Elim Garak, Julian Bashir/Elim Garak, Julian Bashir/Ezri Dax (past relationship)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 81





	An Invitation

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know if I’ll ever have the guts to write a true post-canon Cardassia fic, but this potential beginning is my love letter to the trope and to the beta canon novels.

Julian felt like he was drifting through space, even though he knew he was in his quarters and the artificial gravity was functioning normally.

He was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, an activity which he participated in with a shocking amount of regularity these days.

As time passed, his life seemed to be falling out from underneath him. When the Dominion War ended, there had been celebrations that lasted for weeks. Julian, like so many others, had been ecstatic at the return to peace. He was happy again, no more war, no more death.

The good feelings had continued for the first month or so, but it wasn’t long before Deep Space Nine began to change. First, Captain Sisko had left to be with the prophets, something Julian didn’t quite understand, but he supposed stranger things had happened. Soon after, the remaining members of the Sisko family went back to New Orleans. Constable Odo had left to be with his people, as had Garak, not that Julian could blame them. Then the O’Brien’s left. Keiko had gotten a job as a professor on Earth and Miles had felt it only fair to move with her since she had spent the last seven years on Deep Space Nine, keeping her family together despite her initial misgivings

And then there was Ezri. She decided to take a command position aboard the _USS Genesis_ , something Julian knew she was undoubtedly qualified for.

Oh, and they had broken up.

As far as breakups go, it hadn’t been bad. Ezri was not Jadzia, but she had expressed feeling trapped by her former host’s legacy. She needed a chance to distinguish herself as Ezri Dax, not Jadzia Dax, 2.0. This was why she choose to take a new post, Deep Space Nine just had too much of Jadzia in it. Julian had wholeheartedly agreed with her, and for a while they had made an attempt at long distance. However, it had soon become abundantly clear that the relationship did not have enough substance to stretch across light-years of space.

They still talked often and it was almost easier, being friends without the added pressure of a relationship.

He talked to Miles as well, but subspace communication was not an adequate replacement for their holosuite adventures.

The only people still on board the station that had been on board since the beginning were Colonel Kira and Quark.

Julian spent most of his days talking to people without actually _talking_ to them. He had co-workers and friendly acquaintances, sure, but most of his friends had moved on. Quark was a scoundrel, and while he had great respect for the Colonel, they had never been particularly close.

He was chief medical officer of Deep Space Nine, a position he had worked hard to get and which he had once held with pride. Why was it that he now found it so draining?

It was as if, after the dust settled, he had looked around to discover he had been left behind.

Julian sat up with a sigh. He needed a change in scenery, which meant moving to stare out the window into space instead of up at the ceiling.

He had lost his sense of purpose. When he first requested assignment on Deep Space Nine it was because he wanted to practice medicine on the far reaches of the frontier, where it was truly needed. Kira had quickly put a stop to that rather insensitive notion, but nevertheless, he had been needed here. Not only that, he had made friends here, good friends, family even. Julian looked out at the stars, thinking about the distance that now sat between him and the people he cared about.

The voice of the computer startled him out of his daydream.

“Incoming transmission from Cardassia Prime.”

Frowning, Julian walked over the console. Who could be trying to contact him from Cardassia Prime, of all places? 

“Computer, display transmission,” he said, sitting down at the desk.

‘My dear Doctor...’ it began, and Julian knew instantly who it was from.

Elim Garak, that bastard!

Julian had written to him ages ago and hadn’t heard anything since. At first he thought there was an issue getting communications from Cardassia Prime. It had lost a significant amount of infrastructure in the war, being hit harder than most planets. But as weeks turned into months, Julian had been forced to accept that perhaps his friendship hadn’t meant as much to the Cardassian as he had been lead to believe. It was no secret that Garak had wanted nothing more than to return to his homeworld, and now he had. What use had he for the Federation or Deep Space Nine?

Julian had already begun to draft a stern response in his mind when his eyes drifted to the page count.

“My God...” he breathed, and leaned back in his chair.

Garak had sent him a three hundred and eighty-eight page letter.

\---

It took Julian several hours to read through Garak’s letter, now that he thought about it, ‘novel’ was probably a better word for it. Honestly, who would write someone a nearly 400 page letter?

Garak would, that’s who.

Elim Garak.

The old tailor hadn’t forgotten about him after all, quite the opposite in fact. It seemed that Garak missed his company, if Julian had properly read between the lines (and he was nearly certain he had).

Julian was well aware of the Cardassian’s skill at deception, but he had the sense that these pages contained a great deal of truth, even amongst the exaggerated tales. Garak, it seemed, had been doing his own bit of self-reflection.

As Julian allowed himself a moment to contemplate all that he had learned, he was struck by how much he missed Garak, their shared lunches, the engaging banter, and the way some of his scales shone slightly blue, if you looked at them in just the right lighting. Julian had been denying all this to himself, in some misguided attempt to suppress the loneliness, but now...

Julian reread the last few lines, ‘...I hope that someday you'll have the opportunity to see it. Nothing would please me more. you’re always welcome, Doctor.’

It was an invitation, or at least, as direct an invitation as Garak would ever give him. 

Julian smiled. He stood up, instructed the computer to turn out the lights, and walked out of his quarters with a renewed sense of purpose. He needed to see the Colonel about a leave of absence and transportation to Cardassia Prime.

He had a house call to make.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated!


End file.
